That I shall not discuss, and perhaps cannot account for; but certainly they are a proof of the converse of spirits, and a secret communication between those embodied and those unembodied, and such a proof as can never be withstood;
关于这一点,我不准备在这里讨论,也无法加以阐明。但这种启示至少可以证明,精神与精神之间是可以交往的,有形的事物和无形的事物之间是有神秘的沟通的。而且,这种证明是永远无法推翻的。
of which I shall have occasion to give some remarkable instances in the remainder of my solitary residence in this dismal place.
关于这一点,我将用我后半生孤寂生活中一些很重要的例子加以证明。
I believe the reader of this will not think it strange if I confess that these anxieties, these constant dangers I lived in, and the concern that was now upon me, put an end to all invention, and to all the contrivances that I had laid for my future accommodations and conveniences.
由于我一直生活在危险之中,因而日夜忧虑,寝食不安,这就扼杀了我为使自己生活舒适方便的发明创造能力。如果我坦承这一点,读者一定不会感到奇怪。
I had the care of my safety more now upon my hands than that of my food. I cared not to drive a nail, or chop a stick of wood now, for fear the noise I might make should be heard:
我当前最迫切需要解决的是安全问题,而不是食物问题。我连一个钉子都不敢钉,一块木头都不敢劈,生怕声音被别人听见;
much less would I fire a gun for the same reason: and above all I was intolerably uneasy at making any fire, lest the smoke, which is visible at a great distance in the day, should betray me.
同样,我更不敢开枪了。尤其叫我担心的是生火,唯恐烟火在白天老远就被人看见而把自己暴露。
For this reason, I removed that part of my business which required fire, such as burning of pots and pipes, &c., into my new apartment in the woods;
因此,我把一切需要生火的事,如用锅子烧东西或抽烟斗等都转移到我那林间别墅去做。
where, after I had been some time, I found, to my unspeakable consolation, a mere natural cave in the earth, which went in a vast way,
在那儿待了一段日子之后,我发现了一个天然地穴,感到无比欣慰。地穴很深。
and where, I daresay, no savage, had he been at the mouth of it, would be so hardy as to venture in;
我敢保证,即使野人来到洞口,也不敢进去。说实在的,一般人谁都不敢进去,
nor, indeed, would any man else, but one who, like me, wanted nothing so much as a safe retreat.
只有像我这样一心一意想寻找安全的藏身之所才会冒险深入。
The mouth of this hollow was at the bottom of a great rock, where, by mere accident (I would say, if I did not see abundant reason to ascribe all such things now to Providence), I was cutting down some thick branches of trees to make charcoal;
地穴的洞口在一块大岩石底下。有一天,我正在那儿砍柴,准备用来烧炭,偶然间发现了一个洞口,如果不是天意的话,只能说是偶然了。
and before I go on I must observe the reason of my making this charcoal, which was this I was afraid of making a smoke about my habitation, as I said before;
在我继续讲我的发现之前,必须先谈谈我为什么要烧炭。前面我已经说过,我不敢在住所附近生火。
and yet I could not live there without baking my bread, cooking my meat, &c.; so I contrived to burn some wood here, as I had seen done in England, under turf, till it became chark or dry coal:
可那儿是我生活的地方,我不能不烤面包,不能不煮肉。因此,我计划按照我在英国看到的办法,拿一些木头放在草皮泥层下烧,把木头烧成木炭,
and then putting the fire out, I preserved the coal to carry home, and perform the other services for which fire was wanting, without danger of smoke.
熄火后再把木炭带回家。这样,如果家里需用火,就可以烧木炭,省得有冒烟的危险。
But this is by-the-bye. While I was cutting down some wood here, I perceived that, behind a very thick branch of low brushwood or underwood, there was a kind of hollow place:
烧木炭的事顺便就谈到这里。再说有一天,我正在砍柴,忽然发现,在一片浓密的矮丛林后面,好像有一个深坑。
I was curious to look in it; and getting with difficulty into the mouth of it, I found it was pretty large, that is to say, sufficient for me to stand upright in it, and perhaps another with me:
我怀着好奇心想进去看看。我费力走进洞口,发现里面相当大。在里面站直了还绰绰有余,甚至还能再站一个人。
but I must confess to you that I made more haste out than I did in, when looking farther into the place, and which was perfectly dark, I saw two broad shining eyes of some creature, whether devil or man I knew not, which twinkled like two stars;
可是说实在的,我一进去就赶快逃出来,因为我朝地穴深处一看,只见里面一片漆黑,在黑暗中,忽然看见有两只发亮的大眼睛,也不知道是魔鬼的眼睛,还是人的眼睛,
the dim light from the cave's mouth shining directly in, and making the reflection.
在洞口射进去的微弱光线的反射下,那对眼睛像两颗星星闪闪发光。
However, after some pause I recovered myself, and began to call myself a thousand fools, and to think that he that was afraid to see the devil was not fit to live twenty years in an island all alone;
尽管这样,过了一会儿,我又恢复了镇静,连声骂自己是个大傻瓜。我对自己说,谁要是怕魔鬼,谁就不配孤身一人在岛上住二十年了。
and that I might well think there was nothing in this cave that was more frightful than myself.
而且,我敢相信,在这洞里,没有其他东西会比我自己更可怕了。
Upon this, plucking up my courage, I took up a firebrand, and in I rushed again, with the stick flaming in my hand: I had not gone three steps in before I was almost as frightened as before;
于是,我又鼓起勇气,点燃火把,重新钻进洞去。可是,我刚走出三步,又像第一次那样吓得半死。
for I heard a very loud sigh, like that of a man in some pain, and it was followed by a broken noise, as of words half expressed, and then a deep sigh again.
因为我忽然听到一声很响的叹息声,就像一个人在痛苦中发出的叹息。接着是一阵断断续续的声音,好像是半吞半吐的说话声,紧跟着又是一声深深的叹息声。